This invention relates generally to an image forming material and, more specifically, to an image forming material for forming a stable image on an image recording material by, for example, ordinary printing such as letterpress printing or lithographic printing, electrophotography, ink jet printing, thermal transfer recording or writing such as with crayon or pens, wherein the image is able to be removed from the image recording material. The present invention is also directed to a method for removing an image on an image recording material, to a device for carrying out the method, to a process for forming an image and to an apparatus for carrying out the process.
With rapid progress of various information recording and transmitting means, the level of information output has very increased and paper consumption has increased significantly. In an effort to reduce the consumption of paper and to conserve forest resources, recycling of waste paper is now an important concern. Thus, many methods have been hitherto proposed to recycle waste papers, especially toner image-bearing papers produced by electrophotography.
One known method is to treat a paper to improve erasability of the toner images. Such a method has a problem because the recyclable paper is not available at a low cost. Another method is to use an erasable toner whose color is erasable by irradiation thereof with a light (Japanese Patent No. 2,960,229). This method has a problem because the discolored material remaining on the paper adversely affect the surface smoothness thereof so that it is difficult to reuse same for image formation. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H08-146649 proposes a toner containing a surfactant to improve water absorbing efficiency. This toner, however, requires a wet treatment to remove the toner images from the image-bearing recording material and, therefore, has a problem because the size of the paper increases due to swelling.